FAKE Icom 775 on eBay

Be careful if bidding on eBay auction 320001074639 for the Icom 775DSP "Green Screen". This identical auction has been on about eight times during the last six months. Notice the seller is just registered with (0) feedback. If you want to have some fun with him, go on and bid the thing up into the thousands.

 

That's probably a poor idea, and may indeed border on unethical. Not that I've used eBay or know the exact item described, but I would think anyone bidding on an item should have a legitimate reason to do so, and honor the bid they submit. I'm sure eBay has some policy requiring that. In REAL auctions, you often have to put "cash up front" or some other collateral just to bid; that's to prevent just such an occurence, where someone will bid high and then backout at the last minute, or default on their bid.

If it's a scam, then let the "buyer beware." If it's too good to be true, it is too good to be true.

 

See eBay auction 9712024350 on 12 April, 2006, same radio - FAKE auction...

 

I'm with you, Buck.

I got some sweet desls on e-Bay, and also got burned a time or two.

As far as I'm concerned, e-Bay and Pay-Pal (which is now owned by e-Bay) are big scams and they are too big to have to care about the customer. And believe me, they don't care.

Pay-Pal made an error attempting to verify my bank account and after having a 100% positive feedback rating for several months, it plunged to 70% and I was banned when my transactions didn't go through. Would e-Bay or Pay-Pal remedy the prolem? Hell no. One day I literally spent NINE HOURS on the phone trying to sort it out. After spending a half hour with someone in India, I was transferred to successive apparatchiks on a wild goose chase that put me right back with the 'customer service' person I started with! I sent money orders or cahsier's checks to those who bought my explanantion, but unfortunately several did not believe me and I got trashed horribly. E-Bay also would not do anything about a guy with a massive amount of Collins gear who was using shill bidders to up the prices. I have dealt with  the E-Bay legal department, which has the atitude "look at the terms of service; you can't sue us (and if you do, we don't care)."

I fully concur with your suggestion that if one has an item for bid on an auction site, that's fine...but don't list it here, also. The ham ads are for those of us who still prefer to deal directly with people and aren't too cheap to pick up the phone.

73,

Kevin WA7VTD

 

Kevin,
That sounds PRECISELY what the original post was encouraging: SHILL bidding. It borders on the unethical, if not outright fraudulent. And obviously, somebody doing the shill will get the shaft, unless they are in "cahoots" with the seller. I'm sure eBay expects the high bidder to pay up and complete the transaction (and rightly so) once bidding is over. And I'm sure one such "failed transaction" would most likely ban a user from being allowed to bid on anything in the future. (At least that's the way I would run things, and the way real auctions work...)
eBay has it's place, and lots of people are happy with it's performance. But there will ALWAYS be shady characters, regardless of what they have to sell.

 

I refuse to do bussiness with ebay for the same reasons i was selling some stuff for a silent keys wife and some jerk sends me an email saying he paid too much and i was shilling the item so i was baned well i sold and delivered around 2000 dollars of equipment but still have a lot more to sell and if you are selling anything and k5vt bids on them dont do bussiness with him hes a dead bead that does not return emails or pay for stuff he bids on so k5vt and ebay can kiss my coax

 

Why buy radios on ebay when you can buy perfectly GOOD radios for CHEAP at hamfests?

I bought a really nice Kenwood TS-440 for $200 at a hamfest the other day. It is an outdated rig but absolutely nothing is wrong with it.

And in buying radios at hamfests, you get out of the shack, get to meet fellow hams and maybe make a friend or two.

 

Why buyer be ware? Hams should have a higher ethic. I noticed that green screen add and turned it in to eBay criminal investigation. The W9 station that just says buyer be ware is probably the scammer. This guy should be in prison for fraud. Can you imagine the first few hams, that saved for a year or more for that radio, and this jerk stole their money. Lets get the ARRL to hire investigators and go put him in jail!!

 

There are dishonest hams. Sad but true.

Also, prevention is better than cure. For used ham gear I prefer to see the goods and test it out before I buy.

That's why hamfests are great - they have test tables at many of them, and even if they don't I have antennas from 80m to 70cm and power in my car to test with.

 

Preaching to the choir, good friend.

E-bay is to me, a resource of last chance, where prices are high and you take the risk, not the seller.

Gary WA7KKP

 

As with anything you are going to spend your hard earned dollars on check it out first. I have an ebay store and sell a lot of items on ebay auctions as well. Just like anything there are honest people and dis-honest people. I've had people not pay me . But I never ship an item without the money in my hand first. DUH. Also, that's why ebay provides feeback. I don't do business with people with high negative feedback or with peolple who have low feedabck scores. I have used ebay for over eight years and have a 100% positive feedback and I have left my fair share of negative feedbak for people. I find it's all in the tact you use and the way you conduct yourself and your business. Also, I find ebay to be a great way to make spare change out of junk laying around the house. One further note ebay will not ban someone from using their services just on the words of another individual so the dude who posted that earlier is not telling the whole truth.

73

Tony Middleton
KE4VYR